Re: Hop in! On my way to a 100k!

As for health, I am still paying off medical bills from last fall and I am on medicine for life. (The doctors still want to do one more surgery, but I am saying no right now.) I just don't let the medical stuff get me down. I know I have days where I can't do anything and days that I get very little done. I looked at my very expensive, two week hospital stay as a weight loss camp.

As for income, my income varies and I make do with what I have. I do my best (and believe me it's a struggle sometimes) to have a written budget and stick to it. My budget is based on the minimum I need for bills. I went all winter without heat to be able to make payments on the medical bills. Last summer, I went all summer (even though temps were more than 100 degrees to be able to make payments on the medical bills.) One of the things that helps make things work is I am now debt free except for medical.

My motto of pay myself first - I do that. And sometimes it means working out a payment plan for a bill. And sometimes it means cutting back somewhere else in my budget to have the cash for a bill.

Don't let the bills get you down. Don't let your health get you down. Don't let the paycheck (or lack of one) get you down. The posting here about the plan keeps me feeling good about what I CAN do. And the focus is definitely on the "CAN DO" positives instead of the negatives.

Re: Hop in! On my way to a 100k!

- DGF actually suggested the same thing your DH did about shaving the back of the neck. She has been an artiste and it extends my haircut for about a week or two. So good for him on the suggestion.

- Collecting rainwater brought back a dear memory for me. We used to do that back in my old home in Puerto Rico. Our utilities over there aren't as stable as they are here in the mainland. Without rhyme or reason, you could go a whole day without power or water, and sometimes both. So we always had containers of rainwater just in case the water went out and we needed to flush a toilet or two. You never realize how much water it takes to flush a toilet until you don't have any.

Re: Hop in! On my way to a 100k!

I read this whole thread and it has inspired me to do my best in my retirement and saving plans. How much a pay check are you spending to purchase a new CD? So if you purchase a new CD, do you also add to the current ones that you have? I am sorry I did not catch this information through out of thread. I am sure you posted it but I already have ADHD I tried my best.

Re: Hop in! On my way to a 100k!

Week six – wow – it just amazes me the changes we have made. I think the biggest one, that has had the MOST impact, was having a positive perspective of how much money we can save. I mentally use to be disappointed that we were only saving about $300 a month. For some people, that is a huge stretch. And for us, I felt we were really going without.

But since I turned that around, started to include the employer TSP (a version of the 401k program) contribution, started to count interest being earned, and actually took a hard look at the interest rates being offered by various banks for different products – my positive outlook sees a growing savings pile that was beyond what I thought was even possible!

We are more disciplined now than ever before. I do stick to my guns about things more too. In March and April, I stuck to my guns about the laundry. There were only so many quarters to be had. Period. That was the $10 I had budgeted for the month to do laundry. We use to hang up laundry before when we did laundry at home, no reason why we can’t do it now. So what if we leave the laundry mat with wet clothes?

I have been doing the budget game. DH wants to get his shoes resoled. Ok, where does that fit into the budget? Yep – the household account. We have $35 a paycheck that goes into that account. That means plan one month in advance (it costs $60 to resole the shoes). If we are short money in another area, we take from the household account.

Mother’s Day’s cards – household account. Already have the postage stamps at home, so we are good to go. But if I do pay for postage, it comes from the household account.

Hair cut? Personal account. Budget is $50 a paycheck for this one too. And you know it, if we are short somewhere else, this account does not get funded from that paycheck.

I go to the bank at least once a week. I deposit my loose coins into savings. It usually ends up being about $3-5. Sometimes less. Seldom more. But I am watching it add up and move that boulder of “need to find under a rock” money.

I went to the bank today to get cash. Their computer system was down and she said I could not have any cash because the check I was depositing was no good (because she couldn’t verify it) and she didn’t know if I have enough money on my account. (eye roll – for real?) Then she told me to go use my ATM card to get cash from the cash machine and it MIGHT work. Um, if the computer system is down, how will their ATM be able to check my bank balance? It’s on the same network! I looked at her and said I don’t have an ATM card. She was shocked!! Lol – well, I really don’t have one. Makes it easy to get cash or to spend.

So, I went to another bank and withdrew cash – all ten dollar bills – for the next week and half. Starting with May 1 – I am pushing very hard to keep on the food budget. The cash for two weeks was not working out so well. We definitely spent less on food, but still more than budget. So now, I pull out $10 a day from that stash and that has to feed both of us. Ya know what DH learned? It’s dang hard to go out to eat and feed both of us for $10!! He finally said Subway was our best chance, as he looked longingly at the Dunkin Donuts entry door. I helped him out a bit and said we could share a foot long. $9.90 for a foot long combo. J

On the same note (this is important cuz we are going to visit friends, go to a graduation, and then TDY, so we will be on the road for the next week and half, thus the cash) – I asked DH how we are going to eat on the road all day with only $10. I wish you guys could have seen his face. It was precious. I am sure all those cups of coffee flashed before his eyes…so did his large Angus value meal…and chocolate chip cookies. He sighed. He looked at the pile of things I had pulled out of the cabinets and said, “I guess I can eat that. “ Lol – is there something wrong with candied ginger, pumpkin seeds, and rice crackers?? I think not! So he actually, kinda got into planning out some of his meals for the week. FrugalRican – be proud of me now – I reminded him he could have a free breakfast at the hotel and make his lunch with the breakfast fixings. J That means planning dinner with ten bucks – totally doable. And he suggested we bring the crockpot. I could have wept. I am usually the food planner and packer and cooker.

DH offered to go the grocery store and pick up ice cream as a snack. Since we don’t have a freezer, it means eating it all up right away (cost of ice cream is $4-5.50 depending on sales). I said he could, but how was he going to pay for it? We’d already used our ten dollars for the day. Then I nicely asked him to cut up an apple for my dessert. I ate apple and he ate the leftover rice with some milk. Whew – over spending averted!

Re: Hop in! On my way to a 100k!

FrugalRican - I am going to Puerto Rico later this year! I am so excited about it. Everyone keeps saying it is so expensive to go. You can imagine I have already looked at where to get groceries and how to smuggle some cooking device with me in.

The hotel I am in right now does not have a microwave in the room. I am using the one at the breakfast bar. The front desk clerk was so surprised that I was actually heating up food that I had clearly brought from home, that she asked me if I wanted to make sandwiches or have something else to go with my rice & broth. (Thank you very nice front desk lady!)

Re: Hop in! On my way to a 100k!

1. Each paycheck, I purchase a $100 CD at Navy. If I have a little extra, even if it's pennies, I add it to the CD.

2. When I go to the bank with loose change (left over from cash purchases) I add that to a CD. Navy and USAA allow you to add to existing CD's. Navy will let you add however much you want to add. I do that. And yes, I have been known to add as little as one penny to a CD.

3. With the first paycheck of the month, after I have bought the CD, I do an "even out" payment for each CD. Since the CD's have just earned interest, it's super easy to know how much interest it earned, and I add whatever is needed (under a dollar) to the CD to bring it up to the nearest whole dollar. (ie: CD is at 100.00, it earns 3 cents in interest, so I add 97 cents to bring the total to $101. Make sense?

4. Each paycheck, I put $50 into Ally bank.

5. About hte first of the month, I purchase a CD at Ally of $100.

So big picture, I purchase about $300 worth of CD's a month, and then do "even out" payments with Navy.

If I come into a little extra money, I put it into a CD.

With my savings plan, I have been building up some CD's a bit faster than just the even out payment. My goal is to get each one at Navy to $200. Once I achieve that, I will set a new goal.

I also ask, monthly, if there is a CD special. If there is, I find a way to get that CD.

Re: Hop in! On my way to a 100k!

I went to the bank today to get cash. Their computer system was down and she said I could not have any cash because the check I was depositing was no good (because she couldn’t verify it) and she didn’t know if I have enough money on my account. (eye roll – for real?) Then she told me to go use my ATM card to get cash from the cash machine and it MIGHT work. Um, if the computer system is down, how will their ATM be able to check my bank balance? It’s on the same network! I looked at her and said I don’t have an ATM card. She was shocked!! Lol – well, I really don’t have one. Makes it easy to get cash or to spend.

On the same note (this is important cuz we are going to visit friends, go to a graduation, and then TDY, so we will be on the road for the next week and half, thus the cash) – I asked DH how we are going to eat on the road all day with only $10. I wish you guys could have seen his face. It was precious. I am sure all those cups of coffee flashed before his eyes…so did his large Angus value meal…and chocolate chip cookies. He sighed. He looked at the pile of things I had pulled out of the cabinets and said, “I guess I can eat that. “ Lol – is there something wrong with candied ginger, pumpkin seeds, and rice crackers?? I think not! So he actually, kinda got into planning out some of his meals for the week. FrugalRican – be proud of me now – I reminded him he could have a free breakfast at the hotel and make his lunch with the breakfast fixings. J That means planning dinner with ten bucks – totally doable. And he suggested we bring the crockpot. I could have wept. I am usually the food planner and packer and cooker.

Actually wanted to chime in about the ATM.

It actually isn't on the same network. You could lose the system internally at the bank, but the ATM is its own independent teller and its own independent system.

You just might not be able to see a balance on the transaction that reflects the actual balance at the time of the withdrawal. I've seen it happen a ton of times where tellers couldn't access their in-house system for these purposes, but the ATM worked just fine. It's a sucky setup though.

And looks like he is starting to fall into line with the planning.

I had a had time convincing DGF of this at first, but then she realized that taking some of the english muffins and wrapping it up with some of the other stuff from the breakfast, actually worked out quite okay. It's there and if it doesn't get consumed, it usually gets thrown out, so it's to your advantage!

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